


Mother Hen

by ravenflower



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: also blasphemy, attempted burglary, it's well-intentioned tho, protective adoptive parent, slightly creepy behavior on Pearl's part, swears and curses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 17:59:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4147431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenflower/pseuds/ravenflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A stranger attempts to rob Steven's house. Pearl is having approximately  zero percent of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Pearl Muses While Being Creepy

**Author's Note:**

> Ayyyy, long time no writing. Imma fix that.:)  
> Anyway, this takes place after Limited Understanding, but can stand alone as a separate fic. Enjoy!  
> (Please note that this fic is now rated teen for mild language on one character's part. Also for mild blasphemy on the same character's part. Please let me know in the comments if you think the rate should be changed.)

Silvery, softly shining moonlight played across Steven's quilt. The only sound that could be heard at that moment was soft, even breathing. Occasionally,  he would stir slightly and mumble incoherently in his sleep. Otherwise, the house was silent. This wasn't the eerie silence of an ambush or the eerie silence of death. It was a peaceful silence that overtook the house that night.

However, anyone who could witness such a scene could not have missed the slender figure kneeling on the edge of the boy's bed, watching him. Anyone who was unfamiliar with the scenario may have cringed in apprehension. However, the figure itself would have just told you to shush, for the figure itself was none other than Pearl, the motherly second-in-command of the Crystal Gems. 

On this particular night, Steven seemed to be sleeping especially deeply. Pearl expected this. After all, the poor child had only just recovered from a bout of severe illness. Though he was mostly cured of it, he likely still needed rest to fully recuperate. So there Pearl sat, monitoring Steven  for returning symptoms. Though, if pressured, the pale, lithe Gem would admit that illness was not the only reason she was, to put it bluntly, watching Steven sleep on this particular night. In fact, this was only one of the many times she'd observed Steven in his bed. She might say that she did it because sleep was a deeply fascinating act to her, having never participated in it herself. And this would be true.

But it was not the actual reason, and anyone who would have been speaking to her at that moment would know it. No, the real reason was because Pearl missed her leader, Rose, and it was because she missed Rose that she could not bear the thought of losing Steven. After all, Steven had his mother's gem, and Steven was all that was left of the motherly, queen-like Gem Pearl missed so severely. And so, partly out of curiosity, and mostly out of anxiety, Pearl would sneak into the house and upstairs into Steven's room to watch him sleep. 

She inhaled deeply, then exhaled, which came out as a sigh, though Gems did not need to breathe at all. Steven was lying very still, and there was none of the slight movements or twitches he gave normally. The only indicator he was alive was the deep, steady breaths he took. Pearl strained to listen for the point they would stop. Luckily, that point never came. She did hear, however, the clanging of moving pots and pans from the kitchen, which was rather intrusive to the previous silence. Steven twitched and groaned, annoyed,in his sleep at the sudden noise. Pearl eased herself off the bed gently, so as to not disturb the sleeping child any further, and gently combed her thin fingers through his dark, messy curls so as to soothe him. Soon, Steven calmed into his motionless state, and Pearl removed her hand from his head.

She crept silently toward the staircase on her  tiptoes, her movements as silent as a cat on the prowl. She continued this way through the short hallway, and set one dainty foot on the first step. Unfortunately, the house was rather old, including the steps, and the wooden stair creaked in protest. Pearl winced, and, stepping more gently this time, continued her descent down the stairs. The clanging was slowly getting louder as she approached the kitchen, and the muscles in her body began to tense, preparing for combat if combat was necessary.

The light was not on in the kitchen, but a beam of light was sweeping around the small room. Pearl removed her head from the doorway just in time to not be caught in the incriminating beam.If she weren't desperately trying to not be caught by this intruder,she would have groaned in annoyance. This was going to be a difficult night indeed.


	2. In Which Pearl Is Not Having Anyone Even Remotely Endangering Her Baby

The burglar scoped his environment with his flashlight. The yellow-white beam swept the room as he swung the flashlight about, in an attempt to assure himself that no one was awake at this hour but him. He swept the beam over the doorway in his inspection, and his flashlight had already passed the doorway when he startled, believing that he had heard a stair creaking. He paused and strained his ears, listening. There was only silence, and he relaxed slightly. Reassured in his belief that he hadn't been caught yet, he resumed his rifling through the drawers in the kitchen for any valuable utensils. 

He had tried to be quiet, he really did. However, it was very difficult to be entirely silent when what you're doing involves moving small metal objects in such a way that, occasionally, they would clang together, producing a rather obnoxious and nerve-grating noise. He resorted to wrapping the utensils in a bit of spare cloth he had on hand to muffle their movement and reduce any noises that would awaken the homeowners. He was about halfway finished emptying one of the drawers when he heard a soft thump from the hall outside the kitchen. He swept his flashlight around the room once more, and in doing so he passed the kitchen door. He believed for a second that he has seen a ghastly pale face staring at him from the doorway, but a second sweep revealed no such thing.

He was about ready to slap himself. " _Jesus, Bob, get a damn hold of yourself,"_ he thought. " _It's reasonable to be wary on a heist, but to be so nervous you're hallucinatin'? Good God, get a grip, man."_ He looked once more at the utensil drawer, then at his burlap sack. The small sack was half full of valuable silver,and he pondered for a moment if he should consider leaving now. The longer he stayed, the more frightened and anxious he would become, and the more his chance was of being caught. He forced himself to take a deep breath to calm himself. Yeah, alright, he was leavin' now, yessiree.

He was just about to turn around when he heard a throat clearing directly behind him. He turned rapidly and turned his flashlight to the noise. He was beheld with the pale, suspicious face he had seen for a moment in the hall. Two pale blue eyes either glared or squinted down a long, pointed beaklike nose at him. One of the most obvious features, however was the large pearl centered in it's (his? maybe it was a her) forehead. He froze on the spot, and they stared at each other in complete silence for what felt like eternity, though it was only a moment. The silence broke as Bob chuckled nervously. "Um, eh-heh, hey, beautiful night, ain't it?", he greeted, hoping that perhaps the androgynous person in front of him might cut him some slack if he softened them up with small talk first. His focus, however, was still on the large pearl embedded in  (his?her?) forehead.  He thought maybe it was jewelry, some bizarre fashion choice, maybe.It occurred to him then that this ( what he decided was a)  woman didn't seem entirely human. Maybe it had something to do with the giant pearl in her forehead, or her unnaturally pale face, but something about the overall feeling she gave off made her seem impossibly ancient, despite her young appearance, She didn't seem like she had even come from  _Earth._

The woman sighed and spoke in an ice-cold, decidedly feminine voice, " You do know now that your little mission to steal our silverware has failed, you must return out stolen property and leave, don't you?" There was another small pause.

Suddenly, Bob turned and sprinted from the small room , hoping to escape the aggravated inhabitant giving chase behind him. He groaned through his panting breath as  he ran as fast as he could. " _Oh Christ did she say our? Oh God no, there's more of  'em!",_ he thought. _  
_

In a fit of panic, he stomped up the stairs, hoping to find a place to hide up there until his pursuer was too preoccupied looking elsewhere to notice he was going until he was far, far away. He looked over his  shoulder into the face of the young woman chasing him, and the slight annoyance he had seen in  her eyes when they were in the kitchen had morphed into cold, protective rage.  The pearl in her forehead glowed, and she reached up to it to pull a  _spear out of her forehead._ Bob's eyes widened in horror as he directed his gaze to the front of him once more. His feet landed on the second floor landing, and he turned to the room at the end of the left hallway. He squeaked in terror as the staff of the spear was laid across his throat from behind, and he coughed as his airway was blocked for a moment. He pleaded to not the woman specifically but more to any power that could save him, "Oh God, please don't kill me, don't kill me, Jesus no!"

He felt the woman pressing the front of herself against his back threateningly. She hissed in his ear, " _Now,_  we're going to go back downstairs, and you're going to go back downstairs and return what you've stolen. When you're done with that, you will leave and you will never come back. Unfortunately, as I am a protector of the planet people like you just so happen to inhabit, by code I am not allowed to hurt you in any way, as richly as you would deserve it for  _even thinking_ of threatening my little boy." Bob thought, " _Wait, this lady's got a kid? Wait, what am I thinkin'?"_ He unconsciously let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. " _Alright, so she ain't gonna kill me. Okey-dokey, I can handle this."_ Out loud, he said, "Ay, lady, I didn't mean to hurt your kid or nothin'.If you  could just let me go, I'll jus' be on my way and I won't bother ya any more."

The short, birdlike woman sprouted an eyebrow and raised it. " _Christ, she really is an alien,"_ Bob mused. The woman spoke, "Fine. But you'll still need to put the silverware back." Bob would have struggled to get away from this short, frailly built woman he could easily overpower, but, then again, she did have a spear she could apparently pull from her head that currently at his throat. He sighed in what he hoped sounded like defeat. "Alright, lady, you win." The lady in question mmm-hmmed as they turned in sync. He coughed again to get her attention. She stiffened and looked at him curiously. Now that he had her attention, he requested, "Ay, uh, you can let me go now." The woman shook her head. "No." 

Bob faltered in his step. " _Dammit, I thought that would work,"_ he groaned to himself mentally. With that, the burglar and the alien began down the stairs, the alien following him awkwardly since she had to lean forward and stay in close proximity to him to keep the spear over his neck. They were down in the kitchen again, and the short alien woman was watching as Bob returned his ill-gotten gains when, out of the corner of his eye, Bob noticed yet another face peeping in from the hall. He froze, thinking, "Oh God not again." However, when the smaller figure moved to stand in the doorway, Bob realized that this was a boy. A  _human_ boy, by the look of him. 

The small, dark-haired boy rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned a great, jaw-cracking yawn. Then he asked, "Pearl, who's that guy and what's he doing with my forks?", as he stretched, throwing his arms above his head and pulling himself onto his tiptoes as if he was being controlled by a puppeteer. The alien woman, apparently named Pearl, which was appropriate, answered in a very sweet and motherly tone of voice, "Oh, nothing, Steven, just go back to bed." "Hmm-mm," was Steven's only reply. He turned his back and walked out of the kitchen, and, judging by the heavy thumps coming from the direction of the staircase, headed back to bed.  
  


Bob hurriedly threw the last of the silverware into the drawer. He then sprinted from the kitchen, mildly aware that Pearl was following him. He bolted for the screen door and thudded down the steps onto the beach, kicking up sand in his wake as he ran. He was sorely confused and horrified, and he knew then that he would never return to that house in which the alien woman, Pearl lived.

Pearl sighed heavily from her position at the kitchen doorway, and turned off the kitchen light. She slowly, quietly made her way up the stairs, hoping to get in at least two more hours before Steven awoke.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that about wraps this ficlet up. You may have noticed I prefer writing short fics.


End file.
